


Connections

by Cooper West (mikes_grrl)



Category: Original Work
Genre: M/M, Original Character(s)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-07-06
Updated: 2015-07-06
Packaged: 2018-04-08 00:21:43
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,453
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4283550
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mikes_grrl/pseuds/Cooper%20West
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Forty-something Dan wants to reconnect with his college roommate and best friend, so he agrees to attend Craig's family reunion. He doesn't expect to connect with anyone else... but he finds himself attracted to his temporary roommate, Craig's gorgeous, younger cousin Jeff. And according to Craig, Jeff wants to connect with Dan too.</p><p> </p><p>  <img/></p>
            </blockquote>





	Connections

**Author's Note:**

> This was my first sale to Dreamspinner Press, officially marking me as a "published author" even though it is just a short story. I got the rights for it back from DSP earlier this year, so I decided to re-work it a little, sharpen it up and put it out as a "free read." It's a sentimental little tale, representing an important milestone in my life, but more importantly, I hope you enjoy the story!
> 
> Please check out more of my titles at my website, [Cooper West](http://www.cooper-west.com/titles/)!

It was the end of the first day of the family reunion and the loud getting-to-know-you part of the festivities were over. Dan was not actually in the mood for a family reunion, especially when the family in question wasn’t his anyway, but Craig was his best friend from college and beyond, so Dan sipped his beer and decided the weekend wasn’t a total loss.

Since Craig had moved to Canada for his job, they hadn’t seen each other more than twice in the last fifteen years. Dan was grateful for email and instant messaging, but none of that compared with sitting on a patio overlooking the Florida Gulf Coast, sharing a drink and listening to his best friend tell another tall tale about Canadian snowdrifts. Dan tried to pay attention while watching one of Craig’s cousins, a young man with a nearly perfect physique and a loud, infectious laugh, literally _frolic_ in the surf. Dan figured life could be worse.

Craig’s parents rented the villa every year, but every five years or so they put on a shindig for the entire clan. In addition to the beach house, they reserved one whole floor of the Beachcomber Resort three doors down to have enough room for everyone. Dan lived in up in Atlanta, but Craig had told him point-blank that he was expected to show up in Florida during the family-fest, relative or not. They had put him up sharing a hotel room with the very kid who Dan was currently trying not to ogle, who was one of the young cousins traveling in for the reunion.

“Young” being contextual, given that Dan was forty- three and the cousin—Jeff—was 30-ish. Maybe. Dan had not officially met him yet, but from what he saw the guy was ripped in that smooth, solid way professional athletes were, graceful and confident as he ran around playing volleyball with all of his cousins. His skin was that enviable “sun kissed” golden shade of tan (that had escaped Dan and his pale Irish heritage his whole life), his dark hair bleached just a little by sun and water. Jeff was, point blank, breathtakingly gorgeous.

Dan pretended to barely notice the “kid,” who in the late afternoon was spending most of his time teaching the youngest clan members how to wake-surf. Instead, Dan joined Craig and the other “adults” having drinks on the patio, laughing at mutual horror stories about their jobs and children. People were grouping up to talk quietly as the sun set spectacularly over the water, leaving Dan and Craig a bit of peace on the outskirts of the gathering.

 “No one new, huh?” Craig asked, sprawled out, his long legs falling out of the chair.

Dan shook his head.

“I thought the gay scene in Atlanta would keep you busy.”

Dan snorted. “Not all of us are manwhores.”

“Eh, never said you were. But hey, it’s been several years since you broke up with Mark. Time to move on.” Craig slurped his beer.

“Yeah, and how long was it before you started dating after your divorce?”

“Like a week.”

“What?” Dan stared at him, but Craig shrugged, unashamed.

“Nothing worth mentioning, you know? A lot of first dates. I just kept it quiet.”

“You sure as hell did.” Dan frowned.

“I didn’t want to have to keep explaining things to everyone. It just seemed easier to keep a lid on it until I met Marcia.” Craig looked fondly at his second wife, who was across the patio, manning the grill with a ferocious pair of tongs.

“Okay, I get that.”

“So?”

“What?”

“You?” Craig’s eyes narrowed suspiciously.

“No, I’m not keeping my big gay romances secret. Just… working, busy, not interested.”

Craig snorted and Dan waved his beer bottle around in a vague “ _What does that mean?_ ” gesture.

“Dude, I see the way you look at Cousin Jeffy. Not interested, my ass. Or rather, his ass.”

“Fuck you! Are you serious? He’s a kid!” Dan looked out to where Jeff, despite the nearly-setting sun, was still splashing around in the waves with the twelve-year-old twins whose names Dan could never remember.

“He’s thirty, and my own wife can’t keep her eyes off of him.” Craig snorted. “He’s, like, the family enigma. Smart, handsome and still single… we have no idea what his deal is.”

“You think he’s gay?” Dan sat back in the chair, grinning. In the brief moments he had spent in the hotel room with Jeff as they dropped off their luggage, he had not picked up any hits on his gaydar, and Dan considered himself very finely tuned. He tended to fall for straight guys anyway, so it was his main defense mechanism—no pings, and he avoided the object in question like the plague. Jeff had been funny and polite and gorgeous, but Dan was not so sure about “gay.”

“Don’t know.” Craig studied his beer. “Can’t say as I care, but his mother does, as does every female relative once removed or unrelated by blood. Don’t tell me you haven’t noticed the six-pack.”

“I’m not blind.” Dan smirked.

“Ouch, no perving on my family with intent.”

Dan waved his hands around, sloshing his beer. “You started this conversation!”

“I’m grilling you for info! Jesus, has it been that long, you can’t even tell?”

Dan laughed and reminded Craig of that one ski trip to Vail during undergrad that ended up with everyone but the taxi driver in compromising positions, and the night passed quickly from beer to grilled shrimp to more beer. By the time Dan was fighting the sand on his walk back to his hotel room, it was past midnight, and he was feeling a little too good. He stumbled into the room through the sliding door that faced the beach, bumping into one of the chairs.

“Unh?”

“Go back to sleep, kid. I’m just crashing.”

“Sure thing, old man.”

Dan cringed, realizing how patronizing he had sounded and how much being the “ _old man_ ” hurt. He vowed to himself not to act like his father ever, ever again. He fumbled around in the dark, trying to get his sweatpants out of his suitcase without too much fuss. The moon was bright through the hazy, tropical blinds but not quite bright enough, and Dan ended up tripping over someone’s shoes and landing half on Jeff’s bed, half on the floor.

“You drunk?” Jeff sat up quickly and plucked at Dan’s arms, dragging him fully and unexpectedly onto his bed. Dan flailed about, trying not to grab at Jeff. He knew straight men could get defensive about being groped by a queer, even if by accident.

“No, I’m a clumsy _‘old man’_. Ugh.” Dan finally pushed himself up and sat on the edge of the bed, getting his breath back. “Sorry about that. I’m just tired.”

“Must be. You don’t look too old to me.” Jeff smiled, his face lighting up the dark room, and Dan’s heart suddenly went into overdrive, pounding hard in his chest. The kid—the man, Dan reminded himself—was beautifully masculine but with a soft, rounded face that was key to the reason he looked so young. Dan skittered backward.

“Thanks? Uhm, goodnight.” He stood up and grabbed his sweats and bee-lined for the bathroom without looking back. It was less Jeff’s age than the fact that he was the younger cousin of his best friend that kept Dan in the bathroom for a long time, hoping that Jeff would fall back asleep. He took a hot shower to get most of the sand off, then primped like a teenage girl with body lotion and then like a geriatric with his arthritis cream for his bad knee. He considered jerking off but thought that would send the wrong message to his dick, which had taken a firm opinion on Jeff since the moment Dan landed on the bed. When he finally slinked back out, Jeff’s breathing was heavy and steady, and Dan got into his own bed quietly enough not to wake his roommate again. He wondered for a moment what he might have done ten years ago, but he’d been all but married to his cheating bastard of an ex back then, so probably not much.

Feeling somewhere between a loser and a prude, he finally went to sleep to the metronome of Jeff’s light, snuffling snores.

The next day was “tourist day” according to the unofficial schedule, and the whole clan of about twenty people plus kids walked up and down the main beachside drag where all the surf shops sold cheap, gaudy beach towels and sundresses. Dan was dragged along by Marcia and Craig, and even Jeff was forced off the beach itself to try on five thousand pairs of sunglasses in every store while the preteen girls giggled a lot at him. Not that Dan was noticing. Because he was not paying any attention to Jeff, at all. Or at least not every _single_ second of his time. Just one second out of every three. Give or take.

“You’re staring,” Craig whispered and Dan glared at him. Craig raised his hands in surrender. “Just saying, you keep missing the part where he’s kind of staring at you too.”

“He’s your cousin!” Dan hissed.

Craig leaned close to Dan, then subtly adjusted himself in his pants. “Which means he probably inherited the family goods.”

Dan marched off as Craig howled with laughter, knowing he was probably beet red with embarrassment. He stood in front of a rack of postcards and fumed until he looked over and saw Jeff smiling directly at him, a glint of amusement in his eyes. Dan rolled his eyes, mostly at himself. If this were Atlanta and not his best friend’s family reunion, Dan was pretty sure he would be testing the waters with Jeff, to see if he was really interested or just entertained by Dan’s discomfort. As it was, he felt compelled to be on his best behavior, which precluded hitting on the incredibly hot single guy he was rooming with.

Dan decided this was only confirmation of how much his life sucked. Sighing in defeat, he trudged back over to where Marcia was laughing as she held a sundress up against an aggrieved Craig. Dan told him to “say yes to the dress!” and everyone started crying with laughter while Craig glared at them.

That night Jeff didn’t chase the kids to the water’s edge, staying on the patio with the other adults. Seeing him in his natural habitat, Dan had to admit that Jeff was definitely not a “kid.” In the light of the fire pit they were all gathered around, Jeff had slight crinkles next to eyes, and his hands were worn and rugged. He was still model perfect in surfer shorts and a thin T-shirt, but he held himself with a relaxed confidence that only came to a man with a few years under his belt. Dan tried to pretend it wasn’t a turn-on and worked hard to distract himself from staring across the way at him all night like the ‘tween kids who already worshipped everything about Jeff.

Dan went easy on the beer, knowing he would need his wits about him once Craig started in again, and he was right. Fortunately there were a number of young adults present who managed to snare the older family members’ attention when the “What are you doing with your life?” questions started flying. Dan didn’t notice when Jeff snuck out, but it had to have been a couple of hours before Dan finally claimed exhaustion and gave up for the night. What little alcohol buzz he had earlier had faded, so he was tired more than anything when he stumbled into the room again.

He had set his sweatpants out on his bed earlier that day in preparation for getting undressed in the dark, so he was fairly quiet and completely unprepared for Jeff to reach out and grab the sweats as Dan walked by his bed. Instinctively Dan tightened his grip and they had a brief tug of war before Dan toppled down onto the mattress and ended up staring at the ceiling.

“What?” He wondered if he was drunker than he thought.

“Can’t take a hint?”

Dan looked over and saw Jeff crouched next to him, smiling, holding the sweatpants out over the edge of the bed as if playing keep-away. Dan licked his lips, because if this was going that way, he had absolutely no idea what to do. He was usually the one doing the pursuing, and after spending the whole day convincing himself Jeff was not on the menu, he wasn’t really certain what the next move was. “No?”

Jeff scowled, the expression severe and foreboding in the darkened room. He dropped the sweats and leaned forward on his hands, bracing himself over Dan and staring down at him. “No, as in ‘no thanks’? Or ‘no, can’t take a hint’?”

“I’m notoriously obtuse,” Dan said, cursing his doctorate.

Jeff laughed, though, getting the joke. Dan wondered when a good vocabulary had become a turn on. Jeff bent down until his head was pressed up against Dan’s, their cheeks brushing. “Here’s another hint.” He licked the outer shell of Dan’s ear.

“Damn.” Dan shivered, his fingers clutching at the bedspread as arousal sped through him. His dick was already on board, filling up and pushing at his pants, and Dan shifted his hips to try and relieve a little bit of the pressure.

“Oh, you got the hint this time, huh?” Jeff laughed. Dan could feel his smile next to his ear, and he grinned himself.

“I think so. Might have to verify my conclusion.”

“Scientific method and all.” Jeff nodded.

“Empiricism. It’s… uh, important.” Dan gripped the bedsheets tighter as Jeff dipped his tongue back into the outer fold of his ear, sliding wet and hot over the sensitive nerves.

“Yeahhhh….” Jeff moved his face, his body still propped up over Dan, and finally kissed him.

It was one of those polite, getting-to-know-you kisses, for which Dan was grateful; he hated the porn star tongue-lashing thing, at least during foreplay, and he appreciated the fact that Jeff was not too aggressive. He finally got his wits together and ran his hands up Jeff’s arms to his shoulders, lightly skimming over skin and muscles. Jeff was toned and Dan felt his own middle-aged paunch too clearly for comfort, but the kiss was wet and sweet so he poked his tongue out and ran the tip over Jeff’s bottom lip.

Jeff groaned loudly.

The sound went straight to Dan’s cock, which was almost totally hard in his pants now, no matter what Dan tried to tell it about getting hopes (or anything else) up since there was no telling what Jeff had in mind.

While he argued with himself, Jeff pulled and shuffled and scooted them around until they were fully on the bed, then swung up and over so his knees were on either side of Dan’s hips. Dan never let go of Jeff’s shoulders, scrabbling to keep up with the transition. When Jeff paused, settling down on his knees, Dan pulled at him and started kissing him again. Jeff made happy grunting noises and pressed his hips down so their erections rubbed together through their shorts.

Dan pushed Jeff’s arms apart with his elbows, then wrapped his own arms around Jeff’s torso, pulling him down even more. Crouched over Dan, Jeff shoved his knees out further to lower himself until they were touching chest to groin. Their kiss kept going through all of this, mouths opening just a little, just enough for Jeff to lick around Dan’s lips. Dan pulled back and tipped his head to the side, breathing in great gulps of air. He had not made out like this with anyone in a long time; it was too personal and intimate for casual sex and part of him fluttered in worry at the thought of what he was doing. The rest of him yearned to have Jeff’s taste all over his tongue.

“Damn,” was his only response to that last thought.

“Yeah. Been watching you,” Jeff said, jerking his hips to punctuate his words.

“That… uh.” Dan was going to say “surprises me” but decided against incriminating himself. Instead he spread his fingers around Jeff’s sides and ran them down his back to his waistband. “May I?”

“Hell yes.” Jeff nodded, lifting his head up and then back down to nip along Dan’s neck. Dan growled instinctively and shoved his hands into Jeff’s briefs, palming his ass cheeks. “Oh, yes, man, hell yeah,” Jeff grumbled as he kept up his attack on Dan’s neck.

“Watch it, I really don’t want to have to explain—”

“Yeah, yeah, yeah. Okay.”  Jeff sounded disappointed but moved his attentions to just below Dan’s collarbone, where any bruises could be covered up. “Not like I’m worried. Cousin Craig caught me watching you.” He nipped again and then sucked at Dan’s skin, pulling the fragile flesh into his mouth ruthlessly.

“Nnnggghhh… shit! Damn it!” Dan scrambled to get a grip and shoved Jeff’s briefs down over his ass, then moved his hands to Jeff’s front, releasing his cock. It bobbed between them, bumping up against Dan’s own still-trapped dick.

“Come on, come on.” Jeff jerked his hips again.

“You always this pushy?” Dan snapped as he fumbled with his shorts.

“Yes!” Jeff sat up, pushed off Dan’s chest, and took over stripping Dan’s shorts off. He twisted out of his own briefs and then settled back down on top of Dan, but not before Dan got a total eyeful of Jeff’s lithe and muscular body. It was not quite as perfect as a porn star’s, which Dan found something of a relief, but it was still beautiful and strong, the hazy moonlight highlighting him like a professional black and white photo. As Jeff lowered back down, Dan tipped his head, shoving his nose into Jeff’s neck and taking a deep sniff.

“So hey, kinky.”

“Not so much, just been a while.” Dan licked the skin before taking another deep smell. Jeff was soap and salt and sweat, the taste of a man who spent time working out and using his body, and Dan moaned with desire as he continued licking up Jeff’s neck to his jaw.

“Really?” Jeff leaned back when Dan stopped to breathe. He propped his head in his hand, resting on one elbow. In the moon-lit darkness, his expression was hard to read, but Dan thought he looked amused.

“Shocking, but true: middle-aged academic queers are not in high demand,” he said, trying to play off his insecurity. Jeff frowned at him, opening his mouth to say something that Dan knew would embarrass both of them, so he ran his hands over Jeff’s thighs, which were still straddling him. He cupped his ass with a firm grip and Jeff made a sound like a hiccup.

“I’d like to make a demand, here, though.” Jeff was down over him again and they were kissing, deep and exploratory. Dan pushed on the back of Jeff’s knees until he was lying down fully on top of him, their legs threaded together. “Hey, I was gonna—”

“No, you weren’t. I’m not that kind of guy on a first date, and I’m too far gone. It’s this or nothing.” Dan pushed his body up against Jeff’s, rubbing their cocks together. They were already sweaty and there was no friction as they slipped and slid and rubbed. Jeff took a deep, stuttering breath.

“Yeah, okay… okay….” Jeff braced himself on his elbows and started undulating. Dan felt his eyes roll back because this kind of full body experience was not something he had indulged in since he broke up with Mark. He barely knew what to do with his hands, finally grabbing onto Jeff’s sweaty shoulders and hanging on as the athletic body against his took off for parts unknown (or, at least  unremembered). Jeff bore down hard, almost painfully crushing their dicks together, then surged off with a snap of his hips. He kept fairly quiet, huffing and grunting as he shoved at Dan, sighing and gasping when he pulled up to roll back down again. By the third wave Dan gave up trying to hold out, instead pulling his legs from beneath Jeff and wrapping them around Jeff’s thighs.

“Thought you weren’t…?” Jeff smiled against his skin, enjoying the suggestion of Dan’s position under him.

“Not. I’m… fuck… not. Just trying to… hold on….”

Jeff laughed and kissed him as he surged again, and this time Dan surged up with him and they crashed back onto the bed together. It was too much for Jeff, who choked and stuttered, then began slamming his hips, rubbing off on Dan’s groin until he came, his dick spilling out between them as Jeff tried to kiss in between gasps. He finally collapsed completely, shaking with his head tucked into Dan’s neck, his dick wet and limp against Dan’s hard and throbbing one.

Dan rubbed Jeff’s back, putting his feet on the bed to brace them both. “S’okay. You’re good. I got you.” He kept rambling nonsense until the younger man snorted and looked up at him.

“Okay, that was fucking awesome. Your turn?”

“I hope so,” Dan smiled. Jeff pulled himself up and shifted around until he was resting on his knees again, straddling Dan and gently fondling his own soft dick.

“Come on me. Like this. Here.” Jeff waved his floppy dick at Dan, who laughed. “Do it. I want to watch you.”

“Now who’s kinky?”

Jeff laughed but took his hand and placed it on Dan’s throbbing cock. “Okay, together then. Come on, get off.” The last was whispered, husky and raw, which made Dan think of Jeff giving him a blow job and that was enough to get his hand moving. Jeff’s hand rested on top of his until he figured out how Dan was stroking himself, then he laced their fingers together.

Dan lifted his hips up once, twice, then started fucking into their joined hands, Jeff’s cum as lube making the way slick and fast.

“Oh, fuck me, you are so… fucking… beautiful… fuck!” Dan gasped, coming hard, his whole body clutching up as his cum shot out over Jeff’s plump, used dick.

Jeff groaned happily as he worked Dan through the aftershocks, using his other hand to gently rub Dan’s belly.

Dan finally pulled Jeff down next to him, and took the chance of tugging him into something like a post-coital hug. In his experience, most one-night stands did not like that sort of thing, but Jeff seemed laid back enough not to care, and Dan was rewarded when Jeff slung his leg over Dan’s and snuggled closer.

“Nice,” Jeff mumbled sleepily. “It was very nice. Thank you.”

“Mmm.” Dan closed his eyes and was almost dozing off when he felt Jeff talking again.

“Serious. Watched you all day. Wondered.”

“Well, now you know.”

“Shuddup. Yeah. So… you ever surfed before?”

“Ahhh, no.”

“You gonna let me teach you?”

“Wouldn’t that be… obvious? To your family?”

Jeff chuckled and settled back down. “That wasn’t a ‘no’.”

Dan sighed. “No it wasn’t.”

Jeff’s phone alarm went off early, because there was some traditional breakfast feast planned for just after day-break on the beach. Dan was lying on his back, Jeff partially sprawled over him, their legs tangled and Dan’s arm around Jeff’s torso, holding him close. He tipped his head to muzzle at Jeff’s hair.

“Ugh, too early,” Jeff mumbled, jabbing at his phone to turn the alarm off. He threw it down the bed and snuggled closer to Dan. “We could skip. Tell ‘em we overslept.”

Dan was about ready to agree with the hotel room’s phone went ballistic. Muttering darkly, Jeff picked up the handset. “ _What_? Oh, uh, hey Grandma. Yeah, we’re awake, um, Dan’s in the shower?”

Dan cringed on his behalf because that was a truly sub-par attempt at deflection. Jeff punched his arm with his free hand while he assured his grandmother that yes, they were headed out the door in a few minutes and would be at the beach house in time for mimosas. He hung up with a sigh.

“There goes the morning blow job I was planning.” He flopped down on Dan’s chest.

“Oof. Well, that wasn’t exactly motivation to get out of bed,” Dan answered, running his hands over Jeff’s shoulders and back.

“Yeah, but we got to go. C’mon.” Jeff rolled gracefully out of the bed and pulled Dan after him. “Get showered.”

It was a sad, lonely, blow-job free shower, but it got Dan clean of the previous night’s “festivities.” He yanked on some cargo shorts and a tee shirt while Jeff showered. He was pocketing his wallet, standing by the sliding glass door, when Jeff emerged from the bathroom, looking like a Grecian god in a cheap towel.

Jeff stopped and frowned at him. “Were you headed out?”

Dan shifted on his feet. “I was thinking about it.”

Jeff’s expression fell. “Oh. Yeah, okay, well, I’ll see you there.”

Dan paused, his heart dropping along with Jeff’s face. “Did you want to go over together?”

Jeff snapped his board shorts before pulling them on, his back to Dan. “We don’t have to.”

Dan rubbed his face. “C’mon, we can talk about this like adults. We aren’t kids.”

“You think I am, though.” Jeff turned around. “You call me ‘kid’ and ‘son’ and don’t want anyone to know you’re boning a younger guy.”

“I…what? No. That’s not what’s going on here.”

“Yeah?” Jeff cocked his hip and crossed his arms. “Could have fooled me.”

Dan took a deep breath before deciding to move. Jeff was being defensive, and Dan felt insecure. It was a collision in the making if one of them didn’t change course. He walked over and stood in front of Jeff, just a little too close for comfort. Jeff peered at him suspiciously.

“Come to breakfast with me?” Dan asked, putting his hand on Jeff’s chest, over his heart. He held his breath.

Jeff broke out in a huge grin, placing one hand over Dan’s. “I’d love that.”

Dan took another deep breath. “You don’t really know me, but I’d like the chance to change that.”

Jeff stepped in a bit closer. “Hey, you know where I live?”

Dan frowned at the non-sequitur. “No.”

“I’m an elementary school teacher in Atlanta.” Jeff leaned in and kissed him, and Dan felt his whole world shift.

In the end, they were very late to breakfast.

 


End file.
